


The Heart Of The Machine

by AuroraKant



Series: A Mirror Full Of Demons [2]
Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, DCU (Comics)
Genre: (but it is an evil alternate universe version of him), (it is on purpose), (the now official name of my Mirror-verse Earth), Alternate Universe, Batman As A Morally Bad Hero, Bruce Wayne is a Bad Parent, Bruce Wayne's A+ Parenting, Earth 49311, Eh... you decide, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Internal Monologue, Mentions of the Justice League - Freeform, Morally gray?, Poetic/Repetitive Language, YeetDC2020, mentions of alfred, references to off-screen character death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-09
Updated: 2020-08-09
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:01:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,156
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25810996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AuroraKant/pseuds/AuroraKant
Summary: The Bruce Wayne of Earth 49311 was Batman, a hero and respected member of the Justice League.He was also a horrible person who used his children to do what he thought was right.Maybe that was because it all made sense for him- in his head his decisions were right. He only wanted two things after all: To save Gotham and to be unconditionally loved.
Relationships: Bruce Wayne & Everyone, Dick Grayson & Bruce Wayne
Series: A Mirror Full Of Demons [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1679320
Comments: 12
Kudos: 62





	The Heart Of The Machine

**Author's Note:**

> Hiya!   
> This is a small look into Other Bruce's head I wrote months ago when I first wrote the other two parts of this series.   
> Since I am currently working on a long fic (it is already over 80k) that takes place after All The Stars Burning Bright (Losing Their Light) I thought it would be time to share something else from that universe:  
> The only bit I ever planned on writing from Other Bruce's POV since bastards like him don't deserve more room for justification than this.  
> Even though everything is just implied, heed the warnings!  
> And kudos, comments, bookmarks and the knowledge that you read it keep me happy! <3

Bruce Wayne wasn’t a cruel person.

He wasn’t a monster or a comic book psychopath. He was a man who wanted to save the world. No matter the cost.

When he was eight his parents were killed in front of his eyes and Bruce learned what cruelty looked like. He wanted to make sure that no one else had to experience what he had lived through. He wanted to make sure that the world was a place safe enough to ensure it only had to happen once.

Maybe that was why he became Batman. Maybe that was the reason he joined the Justice League when they asked.

A group of heroes as great and strong as the Justice League had to be enough. But they weren’t. They did a great many things, saved a great many people, but even Superman and Wonder Woman couldn’t save everyone. And so, Bruce continued. Searching for ways to be a hero, for ways to end the suffering.

He didn’t find them.

Bruce Wayne wasn’t a loveless person. No, he loved too much.

He had loved his parents and he loved Alfred. He loved Selina, even though she broke his heart. But Bruce Wayne wanted a love that was all encompassing. Something only he owned. He wanted a love he could trust.

Superman had a big heart and a nice smile, but Bruce could see that Superman’s justice had its ends. That Superman had lines he wouldn’t cross, not even to save everyone. He could see the compassion and the caring and he wondered, why Superman didn’t do the necessary, why Superman hadn’t already ended crime like Batman knew he could.

Wonder Woman was much the same. She was a warrior princess from an island of queens and war, and yet she didn’t use her armada, she didn’t grace the world with the protection she could offer.

Both of them were great friends, nonetheless, but they would never love him fully, never love all of him, just as Selina could never love what it really meant to be Bruce Wayne. They could only love parts. The ones he showed them, the ones that weren’t as ugly, as flawed.

Alfred came the closest to truly loving Bruce, but then again, the man had raised him after his parent's death. Alfred had raised him to be the man he now was. They lived together, with Alfred choosing Bruce each day even when he didn’t want to. Even when Bruce didn't deserve to be chosen. And Bruce wanted more of this unconditional love. This love between a parent and their child.

And then one day an opportunity arose: Bruce was at the circus when the boy’s parents fell to their deaths. He saw himself in the tragedy, in the pain written on the boy’s face. He needed this child to love him.

But life came between him and the kid and before he knew it he was chasing the boy across rooftops after he had broken out of Juvenile Hall. Bruce thought about taking the boy with him just then, but one look into the dark eyes of the child told him, that he wouldn’t love Bruce like he wanted him to. The boy was still too connected to his parents, to grief stricken and angry. There was a fire burning in the child's eyes that Bruce knew had to be stifled before he could claim this boy as his own. This love as one worthy of him.

So, he came back months later as Bruce Wayne when he knew that the boy would love him, when he knew that he was exactly what the boy needed. (When he knew the boy would be broken) And he gave him everything he could: Smiles, and hugs, and encouraging nods. He loved the child because the child loved him back.

Bruce enjoyed the boy’s company, knew that Alfred did so too, and he felt warm and content every time the boy looked at him and smiled. Every time the child waited an entire day just to show him something. Every time the boy chose Bruce above himself, his family, his heritage.

Maybe it was cruel to achieve that by stopping the child from going out, from meeting people, but Bruce would do it if that meant getting the kind of love he craved.

Which made him wonder why he was so willing to offer the child to the Court of Owls when the time came. This plan, this scheme, this method of cleaning Gotham of one of its deadliest diseases, costed Bruce greatly. And the choices hadn’t been easy. It had hurt horribly when he had to get rid of Alfred, like losing his parents all over again. It was a loss Bruce wasn’t sure he could ever really grow beyond.

Giving the boy away hurt even more. He loved the child. The child loved him, _unconditionally._

But at the end of the day, Bruce loved Gotham more. He had to make sure the city survived, he had to keep it from devouring itself and while Bruce wanted to save everyone, he was ready to sacrifice his child. And when asked, the boy was ready to do the same for him.

It hurt to be separated from the kid. It hurt to watch from afar how the Court dismantled this wonderful boy and put him back all wrong again. But even the horrors of torture, the pain of death, and the rot of deceit couldn’t stop the child from loving Bruce.

The boy truly had become Bruce’s masterpiece.

But the child was the first of many. The first to love Bruce, the first to sacrifice himself for Bruce. Gotham. The mission. But he wouldn’t be the last.

There was the boy Bruce found while fighting Black Mask, struggling to stay alive and yet still standing. Bruce could see himself in the boy, could see the defiance and the need for love. He had known in that moment that the boy would love him like his first one did. That they would be a great fit.

And that the boy would destroy Black Mask.

It hurt to have to let him go, it hurt even more when he heard of the boy’s untimely demise, but Bruce knew he had made the right choice. Sacrifice was necessary, even from him, maybe especially from him.

And Bruce was more than ready to bleed for the city.

When the neighbor’s boy knocked on his door, Bruce already had a plan. And when Talia told him of their son, Bruce knew just what to do.

This city wouldn’t save itself, and Bruce wouldn’t find the love he needed for his plans to work outside of the earnest hearts of children. But that was no problem. Bruce would do what was necessary even if it hurt. Even if his heart was bleeding.

Because Gotham needed him. And he would save the world.


End file.
